To ace academics, act, and accelerate
by Lyrium eidolon
Summary: Kinoshita Hideyoshi wasn't very good with academics, but was excellent with acting. When he spots something hidden in one of his closest friends, can he survive the greatest test of all?
1. Chapter 1: First friend

**Author's note:** Welcome. Not really sure what I can say, this idea sounded too appealing to pass up. Besides, I think I should try something new. I hope you enjoy.

**Disclaimer: **The following is a non-profit fan-based piece of fiction. As far as I am aware, Accel World and Baka to Test to Shoukanjuu are owned by Reki Kawahara and Kenji Inoue respectively.

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Chapter 1: First Friend

Right now, I find myself in a very interesting situation to say the least. I am Kinoshita Hideyoshi, and despite my pale skin, long slender arms and legs, and slightly long light-brown hair, I am a guy. I never understood why people couldn't see that. Ever since elementary school, everyone kept mistaking me for a girl… even the girls. In the past, especially during my early childhood, I would respond many a time with lots of shouting and it would usually end with me crying about everybody's failure to recognize my true gender. My twin sister, Kinoshita Yuuko, wasn't helping either, as she was vehemently focused on her studies 93% of the time, so I was almost always forced to comfort myself. As time went on, I learned to just ignore them, and by the time I got into Fumizuki Academy, I had gotten much better about controlling my emotions.

Ah… Fumizuki Academy. Even though I am still there, that place brings back fond memories. I made a small, yet respectable number of friends, one of which has left for Umesato Junior High. I remember quite liking him, despite the fact that he also mistook me for a girl. He was the first one I befriended as a first year at Fumizuki, and the one who taught me that just because people think I'm a girl doesn't mean that I cannot be around them. We both had one major strength, and the other's strength seemed to bring us together. He was _very_ good at playing games, especially VR games that require a neuro-linker, and to this day, I have not even come close to matching his virtual Squash scores. He, however, was drawn to my skill with acting, which was incidentally fuelled by my passion and honed after years of keeping my emotions in check. It looked like he wanted to try and develop his poker-face as he seemed to have deep personal issues.

Oh, I'm really sorry; I got so lost in thought that I forgot to mention his name. He is Arita Haruyuki, and although he might be considered repulsive at first with his large girth and the personality of a loner, he's actually quite fun to have around once you get to know him. The two of us, from what I thought at the time, seemed like the two boys who just wouldn't fit in, which was another thing that brought us closer together. I actually found out that, since enrolling in Fumizuki Academy, he had felt extremely lonely. The reason appeared to be that he was separated from his two childhood friends, Mayuzumi Takumu and Kurashima Chiyuri (I sometimes wonder if she has some sort of relation to a girl by the name of Kirishima Shouko.)

Aside from Haruyuki, I made a few other friends as well. There was Sakamoto Yuuji, a supposed child prodigy with red hair, Tsuchiya Kouta, one of the fastest… and most perverted… human beings I've seen, Yoshii Akihisa… well… I don't really know what I can say about him other than he's an idiot (an opinion that I hope he doesn't discover.) There is also Shimada Minami, who came back from abroad to study here. Finally, there is Himeji Mizuki, a pink-haired girl with really long hair and – dare I say it – maybe D-rank you-know-wha – anyway, that's not important! I tried to get Haruyuki to come out of his anti-social shell, but for some reason, he didn't seem to like spending as much time with them, seeming to preferably select me.

Then, halfway into my first year, Haruyuki did something I didn't expect from him at all. I'm not too sure if I should have said what I said back then, as maybe if I said something different, I wouldn't have driven him away like that. Anyway, Haruyuki, during one break-time alone with me, confessed his love to me and expressed his wish that I would be his bride. Considering that we had known each other for half the year, I thought he knew that I was a guy… unless he was actually secretly into that sort of thing. I doubt that possibility, though, as he often spoke about Himeji with a pessimistic attitude, saying that there wasn't any possible way a girl like her would love him. I was completely taken by surprise at Haruyuki's confession, and I actually felt a little betrayed, as if it weren't for him, I probably wouldn't have made leaps into my other friendships.

I told him that I was a guy, and that I couldn't be his bride. I think I also remember shouting something about… what was it? Anyway, I went home really angry. Little did I know that I was in for a shock in the next 24 hours. The next day, he told me that he was transferring to Umesato Junior High, and that their school administration had already confirmed the transfer request. I actually felt quite devastated, thinking that I was never going to see him again, and that maybe it was my fault. Maybe it was better to say yes to his ludicrous proposal and live out a somewhat uncomfortable school life, so that he wouldn't have to leave. For a long time afterwards, I didn't talk much to anyone, but eventually, Akihisa, Himeji and the others brought be out of my slump.

Near the end of that year, something quite interesting happened. I heard Haruyuki's voice again, and once I managed to get a good look at him, I found him in the grip of one of the teachers, Nishimura-sensei, better known as Iron man. He was Fumizuki's detention master, and… well, let's just say he took his job _very_ seriously. Haruyuki was screaming out that he didn't participate in any Exam Summoning Battle (I'll explain later,) and that he wasn't supposed to take a supplementary lesson. My first thought was happiness at the prospect of seeing him again, my second of him still needing work on his poker face. Iron man never lies… usually. If he was dragging people off to supplementary lessons, then that meant he lost in an Exam Summoning Battle, didn't it? Then again, Fumizuki was the only school that I knew of that implemented the Summoning system, so how did Haruyuki lose? Something was wrong, and I had to find out what exactly had been happening to my long-lost friend!


	2. Chapter 2: Brain Burst

Chapter 2: Brain Burst

At the end of the day, I saw Haruyuki staggering out of the detention room, the place where the supplementary lessons were held. He looked extremely worn out, and to be quite honest, I didn't blame him. Iron Man's supplementary lessons were… well, let's just say that you don't want to know. As a result of that, supplementary lessons are, from what I can make out, the one thing that students dread above all else. I hear Haruyuki muttering while shuffling down the corridor. He seemed to be cursing an 'Ash Roller', and worrying about what will happen with 'Brain Burst'. "Haruyuki!" I shout, running towards him and embracing him.

"Hi-Hideyoshi?" he stammers

"It's so good to see you again. I've missed you so much."

"What! Time and a place, Hideyoshi! Can't you tell that I have just gone to hell and back?!"

"When I never hear from you for at least four months and all of a sudden you show up, of course I'm going to be uncontrollably happy about seeing you!"

"Sorry, I just have a lot on my mind. I have to get back to Senpai as soon as possible."

"Not until you tell me what is bothering you, Haruyuki."

Haruyuki looked defeated, and took me into the boys' bathroom. I knew that look: that meant he had something he wanted to get off his chest, but at the same time, he wanted to keep to himself. Although he tried to hide his defeated expression, I guess he could tell that I could see right through that, hence the reason for taking me into a private space. He began telling me about reuniting with his friend Chiyuri at Umesato, but from there, things got bad. He started crying and told me that the virtual avatar design I created for him was forcibly deleted. Anger started rising in me; I had worked for at least three nights on his design, trying to make it look the way he requested. However, my rage ceased at the moment when I heard that a gang of bullies at Umesato was the one behind the avatar deletion. Haruyuki went on to tell me about his lunch money being used to feed the aforementioned gang, especially one 'Araya'. It was only due to help from this 'Senpai' he mentioned that the gang was dealt with.

I could tell, despite him pouring his past out to me, that he was still hiding something. Maybe it had something to do with his earlier utterances about 'Ash Roller' and 'Brain Burst', so I ask him: "Is that really all that's bothering you?"

"Yes, p-pretty much," Haruyuki stammers. It's times like these when I feel like telling him he's a terrible liar.

"There is something bothering me, though, Haruyuki. How on earth did you get assigned a supplementary lesson?"

"I don't know! First, I'm challenged this morning by someone called Ash Roller and then- never mind!"

"How did this Ash guy challenge you? In what did he challenge you?"

"I can't say, Hideyoshi! I don't think you'll get what I'm-"

"Brain burst?" a voice outside our stall speaks. I knew that voice well by now: Tsuchiya Kouta a.k.a. Muttsulini (You can just think of 'Voyeur' if that name is hard to say).

"What is this 'Brain Burst', Muttsulini?" I shout.

"Ash Roller, now a level 2, part of the Green Legion, Great Wall… so Haruyuki is now a Burst Linker?"

"What is 'Brain Burst'?"

Muttsulini leaps over the door and lands in the stall. He has short, uniquely styled grey hair and at that moment was wearing a ninja costume. He pulled the face mask down so as to reveal his neck, which, surprisingly, featured a Neuro-Linker. "It will be much easier to show you, Hideyoshi," he spoke, taking out a cable from… somewhere in the suit I guess. I couldn't quite tell where he retrieved it from, because he had it out in an instant, and plugged it into both his and my Neuro-Linker. Soon, a new file had appeared on my Heads-up display, and Muttsulini told me to click on that.

A progress bar had appeared, and slowly started filling up. Haruyuki looked shocked, shouting that it was impossible for Muttsulini to be a Burst-Linker. Muttsulini just responded with a demand to know what his Duel Avatar was, if it was the 'Silver Crow', considering that the Avatar in question fought the 'Ash Roller' that he complained about. Haruyuki, in turn, demanded to know what Muttsulini's Duel Avatar was, and how he managed to get the information. Questions and counter-questions continued to fly. What were Haruyuki's abilities? What was Muttsulini's Duel Avatar? How well informed about Haruyuki was Muttsulini? What was Muttsulini even doing as a Burst-Linker?

The progress bar filled up completely, and there was an explosion in my HUD, with flaming letters appearing saying "Welcome to the Accelerated World".

"Well done, Hideyoshi," Muttsulini spoke to me. "I had my doubts as to whether it would install properly. Now, let's go onto the roof."

"Why?" I ask.

"You'll see."

Haruyuki, Muttsulini and I were on the roof a few minutes after the installation of this 'Brain Burst' program. "Now, everyone, shout 'Burst Link'!" Muttsulini spoke.

"Burst Link!" I shouted. Immediately, the world froze and turned blue. I found myself in my digital avatar, which I had styled to resemble the Summoned Being I have here at Fumizuki Academy, with the same blue hakama, white kimono, complete with the same naginata and fluffy tail that my Being possessed. Muttsulini was in almost the exact same ninja outfit as before, only there was another one in front of his own position in the real world. By Haruyuki's real body, however, was a small pink pig, which I could only assume was his virtual avatar. Muttsulini then proceeded to direct my view to a bird in the sky, which was a little strange considering his preferences of 'birds', but continued to ask me what I thought of how the bird was moving.

"Well, the bird isn't moving," I spoke. I couldn't really see any movement of the avian, not even a change in horizontal or vertical position.

"Wrong. It may seem like time has stopped, but we have just accelerated our minds. Our thought processes have sped up one hundred times," Muttsulini responded.

"So that is why everything seems to have stopped. Interesting. Do you use this speed to get better snapshots of 'birds'?"

"I can't. This blue world is only created via images captured by social cameras, hence why we needed to come up to the roof. Unless she is exposing herself to the camera, there's nothing to see."

"Then, what do you use it for?"

"Hmmm… the only one on the matching list is Silver Crow. I'm assuming that is you, Haruyuki, since this is the Fumizuki network and everyone else has left. Anyway, we are done here. Burst Out!"

"Burst Out!" I say, and the world returns from being blue to normal, the aforementioned bird continues to fly and we are back in our original bodies. Haruyuki still wanted to know what Muttsulini's 'Duel Avatar' was, and I thought he was just going to hit another brick wall. However, Muttsulini actually caved in, saying 'Grey Smoke'. After that, though, we went our separate ways back home.

Ane-ue, my twin sister Yuuko, was already at home when I arrived. By that point, the sun had just about set, and I was quite hungry. Ane-ue asked me why I was late, but I felt that she didn't need to know. She knows more than enough about me, and after the way she treats me, I might as well keep her in the dark about Brain Burst. I just came up with a story about some self-studying after school to shut her up. As we were about to sit down to dinner, though, there was a knock at the door. I got up to answer it, and found a boy, maybe in middle-school, with a bouquet of flowers.

"Can I help you with something?" I ask.

"Well…" the boy begins. I can tell he is extremely nervous about something. "Well… I… I have been watching you for quite some time now. I'm really sorry, but I cannot restrain myself any longer. P-p-please…"

"Yes?"

"I love you, miss!" the boy shouts, thrusting the flowers at me. "I loved you from the moment I saw you, and I simply cannot keep these emotions to myself."

"I'm a guy!" I shout. I don't know, maybe this was the second confession this month. For some reason, I seem to unwittingly steal the heart of boys. I know that my figure doesn't really agree, but I am a guy! I don't know why boys are always confessing to me! I close the door, and walk back inside, ready to eat. However, I notice Ane-ue glaring at me. The rest of the night continued to be somewhat tense.

The next morning, I began walking to school. The same boy from last night approached me on the road with a bouquet of roses and once again confesses his love. I said that I am a guy, but he insisted that I was wrong. There was another school boy approaching, also with a bouquet of roses. He also confessed his love. I saw a third one trailing him, then a fourth, and then a fifth. I looked behind me, and I saw a sixth school boy with flowers. A seventh followed him. There were eight, no, nine boys following _those_ boys. Frustration rose inside me, and I looked around. I saw an escape route: a public toilet. I ran towards it, and bolted inside the men's toilets. There were two men already there, and they threw me back outside, saying that I was in the wrong toilet; the women's toilets were on the other side. I screamed the fact that I am a guy at them, but two women grabbed onto my upper arms and dragged me towards their bathroom.

"Let me go! I cannot go into the women's toilets! I'm a guy!" I shouted.

"No, you're not," the women reciprocated. "You're clearly a girl."

"I'm a guy! Why does everyone see me like a girl?"

"Because you _are_ a girl! Your arms and legs are so slender, your hair is so beautiful, and you are clearly going to grow into a _fine_ woman."

"I am not a girl!" I screamed. Tears were spilling out, as the women continued to drag me past the bathroom door into their bathroom. "I swear; I'm not a girl. Why is everyone so stupid! _I'm a guy!_"

"Look in the mirror. In that mirror is reflected what you are," the women continue to insist. I look, but what I see shocks me. I am in a short, red skirt and it looks like there are two slight bulges in my chest. I can't believe this; someone has surely done something to me. Was it maybe Ane-ue? Was this Yuuko's cruel idea of a joke?

"No! NO! That mirror is lying about my reflection! I am a guy! Why do people see me as what I don't want to be seen?! Why do people not see me as I want to be seen?!"

"Now, it is time for the makeup. Let me see, I know I've got some mascara here somewhere, and we surely need to gloss up those pretty lips of yours."

"NO! I don't want people to see me as a girl! _I want my reflection in people's eyes to be of my own choosing! I want them to see me the way I want to be seen!_"

"**Is that what you really want?**" I heard a different, slightly rougher feminine voice boom.


	3. Chapter 3: Curiosity, concern, challenge

Chapter 3: Concerns, curiosity and challengers

I found myself shooting up from my bed, my limbs being somewhat shaky from the dream. I looked over at my cell phone, and I saw that I had received a message. If you are wondering why I still use a cell phone instead of using the Neuro-Linker, it was because of the fact that, while the technology behind that was interesting and I had one since birth, it never really appealed to me until Haruyuki introduced me to virtual games.

Looking at the message, I noticed it signed by Muttsulini. "This is important. Do not log on to the Global Network. Muttsulini. PS: Thanks for posing for my hidden camera during Health yesterday." Something didn't sit right with me, though. It wasn't about the warning; that I was fine with. It was more about Haruyuki. I began pressing buttons on my phone, and in a matter of minutes, I had a message ready to send. "Muttsulini. I don't think I'll be coming today. There is somebody I need to keep an eye on, so please can you keep a copy of notes for today. ASIDE from only Health. Hideyoshi." I think about sending that, but something else occurs to me. "PS: You say you had a hidden camera somewhere in the changing room? Where is it?"

I needed to leave soon if I wanted to find Haruyuki, so I just made breakfast for myself. It was pretty early, so Ane-ue wasn't up yet. Just as I finish eating, though, she arrives, thankfully not caring today about me making her breakfast. I just took up a few more minutes getting dressed, and said goodbye to her. Instead of going towards Fumizuki, I instead went in the direction of Haruyuki's apartment complex. Walking there took quite a while, but I made it in time to see him leave.

"Haruyuki!" I shouted towards him.

"Hideyoshi?" he asked, bewildered.

"Shall we walk together?"

"Yes, but isn't this a bit out of your way?"

"Not this time. Anyway, can you please tell me, as one Burst-Linker to another, how you managed to catch the attention of Tetsujin?"

"I think I did. I lost to a Burst-Linker named Ash Roller."

"Morning, Haruyuki-kun." I heard a female speak.

"Aaaah! Good morning, Senpai!" he seemed to panic while speaking.

"What happened yesterday that you couldn't make it to school?"

"So this is the 'Senpai' you told me about, Haruyuki," I interrupted.

"Who are you, girl?"

"I'm a guy. Kinoshita Hideyoshi. And you?"

"Kuroyukihime."

"Well, I guess the three of us can just walk together. But now Haruyuki, are you sure that this loss was the reason for Tetsujin's appearance?"

"I don't know, Hideyoshi!" Haruyuki shouted. "All I know is that I lost and then heard that roar of 'those who… who…'"

"**Those who were KIA are to meet me in the detention room for supplementary lessons!**" I recite, imitating Tetsujin's voice.

"Yes! Exactly that!"

"Looks like Fumizuki Academy isn't quite out of you yet, Haruyuki."

"We're here."

Sure enough, we were in the Umesato grounds. Just as we entered the building, I connected to the school's local network. I hid in the boys' bathroom for quite some time as I didn't want to be discovered, but as soon as it hit break time, I moved towards one of the student lounges and waited outside for Haruyuki to come out. I knew that he was in there, and I knew that it was only a matter of time before he emerged. A couple of minutes later, the world turned blue, and reformed into a wide grassland. Some words appeared in what must have been a Heads-Up Display, which were metallic-looking, on fire and stating "Here comes a New Challenger."

This apparent challenger looked quite frail, humanoid and featured a few silver armor pieces on various areas as well as a green plate on its face. Above me, I could see what must have been health-bars. I looked at the one to the left. It was blue, and below it was the name 'Rainbow Mirror'. The health-bar to the right had the same quality, but the name below it instead said 'Silver Crow'. It was then that I noticed that something was off, so I looked at my hands. What I saw intrigued me: my hands had grown considerably larger, and were I to have clenched a fist, it would have actually looked pretty intimidating. My arms had become heavily muscled, akin to maybe that of a boxer, wrestler or maybe one of those famous personal gym-trainers. My legs had undergone the same change, and I found that I had developed a six-pack of abs on my chest. The strange material of which my new body's skin was made seemed to be entirely reflective, which allowed me to get a look at my face. I saw that I had lost my hair, but sported two horns branching off towards opposite sides from my eyebrows. There were also two separate plates branching off the back of my head, reminiscent of maybe beetle carapaces, but also branching off like insect wings. These wing-like extensions reached up to my shoulder blades. As far as computerized avatar-design went, I found this intriguing and enjoyable

"Rainbow Mirror, eh?" I hear Kuroyukihime's voice. She is also here, but she looks like a butterfly/human hybrid in a black dress.

"Haruyuki… is that you?" I speak to what I assume is the opponent named Silver Crow.

"Yes. Hideyoshi?" I can hear his voice. "I have to say that I'm not too sure about your avatar."

"What? It's the first one created by an external source that I actually like."

"Do you think it's possible to redesign this? This avatar is really weak."

Kuroyukihime interrupted by saying that the avatars were constructed by Brain Burst, essentially using our inferiority complexes, and noted that both of us had a terrible dream recently. "By the way, Kinoshita-kun," she addressed me, "…why did you wait around here? Your master should surely have wanted to instruct you."

"That is tempting to think about," I sigh, "but I swear, and you can ask Haruyuki as well, but Muttsulini wouldn't do anything of the sort unless there was a nude picture in it for him!"

"Then why did he give you Brain Burst in the first place?" Haruyuki blurted out.

"Probably because he would have expected my avatar to be a bishoujo that he could look at and _not_ get a nosebleed."

"Actually, I also kinda thought you would have a female avatar."

"I thought I drilled it into your head, Haruyuki! I'm a guy! This Duel Avatar is the first thing to fully acknowledge that."

"What abilities do you have? For me, I have just got a punch and kick for normal moves, and a head butt for a killer move."

"Let me see…" I then looked in my move list, and what I saw intrigued me. For my normal moves, there were three out of seven that stood out: Rainbow Life Stream, Rainbow Sky Fire and Rainbow Sword Rain. Deciding to test one, I raised my hand high and shouted "Rainbow Sword Rain!" while looking at the ground in front of me. I felt my head adjust itself, especially with the carapace-like plates advancing across and resting near my forehead, and become hot, as if it was much more active than usual. A second afterwards, I saw two blue-hilted swords shoot into the ground in front of me at what must have been a 45 degree angle from behind me. They actually stabbed where I looked.

"Hi… Hideyoshi…" Haruyuki stammered, "… that was… amazing!"

"How so?" I ask, confused. He told me that my wing-like head carapaces had withdrawn, after which light projected from my head and formed a rainbow behind me. The rainbow quickly turned blue, though, and two glints, according to him, sped down the path of light and shot into the ground.

"Swords… that is the specialty of blue," Kuroyukihime spoke. "Try another move."

"Rainbow Sky Fire!" I once again shout. I feel adjustments to my head again, and this time I see volleys of fireballs heading straight for Haruyuki's Silver Crow Avatar. I still didn't see what had happened to make those fireballs form, though, so I asked him as soon as the barrage ceased and my head returned to normal. Again, I hear that a rainbow had formed, but this time it turned red and shot the volley, amidst mentioning that his health was now dangerously low.

"Rainbow Life Stream!" I shout for a third time, looking at Haruyuki. All three of us are bombarded by rain this time, and I see Haruyuki's health bar gradually start to fill up, little by little, bit by bit, inch by inch, slowly, but surely. One thing I noticed about the rain, though, is that it seems to be giving off a green mist. Haruyuki's Health bar finally reaches its original state, after which I stopped the rain and returned my head to its original state.

"Interesting… your Avatar, it appears, is quite versatile," I hear Kuroyukihime ponder. "You have a color for blue, green and red. Have you got any killer moves, though?"

I look through my move list, but am not sure I see one. Maybe there is something interesting to my avatar, though. At least I know about the 'Rainbow' part of my name, but what about the 'Mirror'?

After the training session, I reappeared in my normal body outside the lounge. There was another mail from Muttsulini, telling me that if I was to gain the experience required to survive, then I would have to fight in a battle. He also mentioned that there would be many fighters on the Global Net. Walking outside the school grounds, I found the world stopping and turning blue. Everything changed to look like I was in a grassland with a few pools of water.

The words "Here comes a New Challenger" appeared again, in flaming letters, and soon afterwards they were followed by a small robotic doll-like female avatar. I looked to the top-right hand corner of my HUD and saw that her name was Nickel Doll. My first battle as a Burst Linker… I actually looked forward to it. How would the script play out?

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**End**** note:** My thoughts for Hideyoshi's Avatar were inspired by a few things: he was able to fit into any role when acting in the non-Accelerated World, so why not present that same versatility in the Accelerated World, much like Haruyuki's speed. As for the Avatar design, I tried to imagine a masculine form that would allow Hideyoshi to be truly recognised as a guy. In the meantime, I hope you have enjoyed so far.


	4. Chapter 4: The debut

Chapter 4: The debut

"Looks like I have a big meanie here," I heard Nickel Doll moan. Just then, the flaming words 'FIGHT!' appeared. Not wanting to be too careless, I raised my hands up and shouted "Rainbow Sky Fire!" to adjust my head and barrage her with fireballs. As I see them descending, I also spot her running towards me. The fireball barrage kept hitting just behind her, so I tried a new tactic. "Rainbow Sword Rain!" I shouted again, this time to have two swords shoot into the ground from behind me, just in front of Nickel Doll.

Before she could, I grabbed both of them and swung them at her. While they did hit, they didn't do much damage at all. I slashed at her again, this time doing a little more damage, then a little more, then a little more, until she was at half health. Just then, she rammed her fist into my stomach, and I immediately started feeling an electrical burning in my body. I could still move, though, the pain wasn't that bad. With a kick to her chin, I freed myself from her.

She still didn't let up, shoving her fists at me at every opportunity. A fist flew by, just touching my face, and I got another shock. A second time, her fist made brief contact with me, again shocking me. Again, but this time I managed to dodge. Again, and again, fist after fist, whole flurries of punches came at me. My whole body was continuously shifting forwards and backwards, side to side, trying to avoid those electric fists and edging backwards all the while. A few punches landed, but I had managed to dodge many of them.

Suddenly, she raised both her hands up, shouting "Anode, Cathode!" and creating a sphere of electricity. Bolts of lightning soared down to the ground, and I suddenly felt a much stronger electrocution. Looking at my own Health Bar, I was getting dangerously low at only a quarter health left, so I needed to act. Not seeing much of an alternative, I shout "Rainbow Life Stream!" hoping that I will heal. I looked down, hoping to target myself with this technique, and I notice why I was experiencing such painful torture: I was standing in a fairly large puddle of water. My head adjusted itself, and soon enough it began raining, giving off a green mist. My health bar's reduction slows down remarkably, stopping _just_ before it hits rock bottom, and soon it starts reconstructing itself. For some reason, though, my head's wing-like flaps had advanced onto my forehead

That was when I noticed that the rain was only falling onto me. I had somehow concentrated it. Another thing that I saw was that I was healing at a much faster rate. Yes, my health bar's reconstruction was still slow, but that was only because of Nickel Doll channeling electricity into my body. When I healed Haruyuki, the rain only healed him at a very slow speed _without_ someone damaging him. I looked again at my health bar, and saw that my killer move gauge was full. Maybe, just maybe, I could still win this.

I maintained the rain through the electricity coursing through me, and as soon as my health bar reached one hundred percent…

"Rainbow Sky Fire!" I shouted.

"Moron!" I heard her shout back. "Now that you have stopped healing yourself, it's only a matter of time before you fry!"

I knew that, but I also knew something else: she was completely focused on me. There was one other thing I had realized about the Sky Fire move, or any of my 'Rainbow' moves, which was why I looked at Nickel Doll's feet. Sure enough, fireballs suddenly contacted and exploded on her. Her health bar had blasted chunk after chunk off. The electrocution stopped at that point, largely due to her not being able to focus on me, I think. I imagined the fireballs aiming not only for her, but also the ground around her. I also noticed, however, that my killer move gauge was steadily decreasing.

I had managed to get her down to a ninth of her health, before she started successfully evading. "Rainbow Sword Rain!" I shout once again, having two swords thrust into the ground beside me. Picking up those swords, I ran towards the exhausted form of Nickel Doll and thrust both blades. This was it; the blades were thrusting towards her… and got stopped by her hands. That was when I kicked her in the head.

The last of her health disappeared, after which I managed to gain some Burst Points. I was also glad that I had practiced virtual gaming with Haruyuki, and even happier that I won my first match. Something was still a bit off, though, so as my world returned to normal, I decided to wait for a little while. I thought that I would mail Muttsurini and tell him about my victory, but it occurred to me that I would be seeing him again tomorrow. I noticed then that I was quite hungry at that point, so the prospect of staying suddenly wasn't as tempting to me as getting something to eat.

My hunger eventually got the better of me, especially considering there was a coffee shop on the way back home. Just as I sat down, though, my world turned blue, which could only mean one thing: acceleration. The setting changed to inside a ruined building, and I was wondering who my opponent was this time. Instead, it looked like I was selected as a spectator between Silver Crow and Ash Roller.

I was a little bit far away, so I ran in the only direction that occurred to me: towards where Umesato would have been. I got there at about the same time as a motorcycle-riding Burst Linker, possibly this 'Ash Roller' that was being challenged. Just as the bike soared past me, the rider got kicked off by the Silver Crow Avatar, which proceeded to run up a building afterwards. I thought Haruyuki was using a good strategy: that bike was far too big to fit inside the building, and there was no visible way to ascend it.

That is, until I saw Ash Roller, who was definitely the rider, charge up the vertical wall using some speed boosters. From there, I had my fingers crossed, as Haruyuki started losing lots of health. Part of me wished that I had waited outside the school grounds to see if Tetsujin would drag him off to a supplementary lesson in case he lost. Another part of me, however, felt that he would somehow turn this around. After all, he was Arita Haruyuki, someone whose gaming talent rivaled my talent with acting or Muttsulini's talent with Health education. My hunch was right. I got up to where he was, and I saw that he had rendered Ash Roller powerless. From there, I could tell that victory was inevitable.

After decelerating, a waiter had come to my table, mistaking me for a girl and asking me for my order. After placing one for some oolong tea and a slice of cake, I was contacted by Muttsulini, asking me if I had fought yet. After replying that I have, and so has Haruyuki, he insisted on meeting up with me. Just as I got off the phone with him, I saw Haruyuki and Kuroyukihime walk past my booth.

"Good match out there," I say to him, whereupon I saw him jump forward in his direction for a bit, clearly startled at very least. Guess I shouldn't have been surprised; it was impossible to see where I was sitting when you were coming into the coffee shop

"D-don't scare me like that, Hideyoshi!" he shouted back at me.

"Come here to celebrate your victory?"

"I guess."

"Something else bothering you?"

"No, n-not really. How about you? Have you been in any matches yet?"

"Actually, yes. I won that one. Anyway, enjoy your victory drink!"

"Haruyuki-kun…" Kuroyukihime began, with a jealous expression, "…is there something I should know about you two?"

"I'm a guy," I sighed. Why did even the girls have to mistake me for a girl?

Just then, my order arrived, and Haruyuki, along with Kuroyukihime, sat down in the booth in front of me. After that, from the sounds of it (or lack thereof), they had Direct-linked. Muttsulini came in not long afterwards, sitting in my booth and using a cable to Direct-link with me, which, I will admit, was a little awkward, mainly because people have enough misconceptions about me already.

"So," he began, "… who trained you?"

"Well, that just so happens to be the person sitting directly behind you, Muttsulini," I transmitted through the cable.

"What all have you gone through?"

"Fighting moves, colors, how we got the Avatars, and I experimented with a few moves."

"Did you go over legions?"

"No, I don't remember anything about legions."

Muttsulini enlightened me about how Burst Linkers grouped together to form legions that assumed control of various territories. Leaders of these legions were Level 9, and there were about six major legions: the Green legion, the Red legion, the Yellow legion, the Blue legion, the White legion and the Purple legion. The leaders for these legions apparently had a name: the Six Kings of Pure Color. There was apparently a seventh, but this particular King, Black Lotus, had apparently betrayed a non-aggression pact with an act of regicide and had since disappeared.

What surprised me, though, was the fact that, according to Muttsulini, there was supposedly a legion forming at Fumizuki Academy. I was, supposedly, the first outside of this legion to know about its formation, and it was allegedly from them that Muttsulini had acquired Brain Burst in the first place.

"We need to figure out the full extent of your abilities. Accelerate," he continued.

"Burst Link!" I shouted, whereupon the world turned blue and I separated from my real-world body in my Summoned Being outfit. Muttsulini was also by his real body in his ninja outfit.

"Now, click one of the icons to your left, bring up the matching list, and tell me what you see,"

"I've got it. There's me, a Grey Smoke."

"That's me,"

"Then Silver Crow and… Black Lotus."

"Press your name, then mine, and Haruyuki's, and declare a Duel."

"What about Lotus?"

"Neither of us is strong enough to take on a Level 9."

"Here we go!" I state as I press the Duel icon. The blue world dissolved, I felt myself changing into my Duel Avatar, and soon the world was reconstructed.


	5. Chapter 5: Grey Smoke, moves, training

Chapter 5: Grey Smoke, Moves and Training

The world had rematerialized for me, and I found myself on a set of islands, with a ninja-like figure beside me. This figure looked quite slender, and featured a dark grey color. The only difference was the face, there were two blue orbs, no orbs, and there was a black bandana on its head. There were even two lengths of material flowing down from the back of the neck. It looked almost exactly like Muttsulini's ninja outfit.

On another island in front of us, there was Silver Crow, and Kuroyukihime's Virtual avatar.

"Damn!" I heard Muttsulini curse, from what must have been his Duel Avatar. "This apparently registered as a tag match against Silver Crow and Black Lotus."

"Grey Smoke," I heard Haruyuki shout, "…is that you, Muttsulini?"

Just then, I saw Muttsulini bolt towards Kuroyukihime with what looked like a camera in hand. He was just flying towards her, landing on his front on their island and skidding the remainder of the way, with Haruyuki blocking his path. I tried running to keep up with him

"Not this time, Muttsulini!" I heard Haruyuki again, just as I reach him.

"Almost… almost…" Muttsulini gasped, now circling around Kuroyukihime on his side.

"Who is this, Haruyuki-kun?" she asked "…and why is he constantly sliding around me?"

"Tsuchiya Kouta," I answered. "…also known as Muttsulini. He, along with me, was one of Haruyuki's friends in Fumizuki. As for your second question, it's better if you don't know. It's not like what he's looking for is going to happen again."

After a few minutes, he stopped circling her and returned to my side. "Silver Crow, have you been trained in use of colors?" he shouted.

"I know about which colors represent which combat styles!" came Haruyuki's response.

"Not good enough. Show me how to _use_ your knowledge and dodge this next attack. Mirror, bombard!"

"Fine! Rainbow…" I begin, with my head plates readjusting, "…Sky Fire!" A barrage of fireballs flew out from behind me, heading straight for Haruyuki. I could see him amidst the flames, running, strafing and rolling to avoid the blasts. Every so often, though, a chunk of his Health bar would get blasted off. Muttsulini had me maintain my bombardment for a little longer, and Haruyuki kept dodging most of the fireballs.

"Stop!" Muttsulini shouted, whereupon I returned my head to its original state. Haruyuki's health bar was three quarters of the way destroyed. "Now, note the color of the rainbow that Mirror created."

"Wait…" I suddenly realized, "…Sky Fire, you saw a red color. Sword Rain, you saw a blue color, and I remember seeing a green mist with Life Stream. You also saw a green color then."

"I saw his green, red and blue moves before. Does that mean that Kinoshita-kun has got five different color killer moves?" Kuroyukihime inquired.

"Wrong. I actually have seven moves, although none of them are killer moves. Of those, I haven't got any. I thought I already told you that."

Muttsulini insisted on continuing with training, stepping forward. His hands were in the middle of his chest, and I wasn't sure what was going on. "Red!" he spoke, arranging his hands in an instant so that his fingers were all fisted except for the index and middle fingers, which were kept together and kept straight. He had placed his left fingers against his right fingers so as to form an X shape. "Seal!" his hands had kept the fingers like they were, but now the left middle and index fingers were now on the palm of his right hand.

"Shurikenjutsu!" he shouted, suddenly producing a dark red shuriken and throwing it at Haruyuki. As it soared through the air, I was intrigued as to how Haruyuki would respond. Would he catch the projectile? Would he dodge? As it turned out, he chose the latter, but that was also when I noticed Muttsulini right above him with a fist half formed, and the index and middle fingers straight, together, on the palm of his left hand and covered by four folded fingers. "Blue! Seal!" he continued, returning his hands to their previous position and stating "Kenjutsu!" A dark blue kodachi appeared in front of him and was immediately grabbed.

Haruyuki saw it coming just in time, and for the next while, he and Muttsulini continued to spar. One thing that I noticed was that, when the latter took damage, he only took a small amount. They continued to practice, but just then, I noticed something. "Rainbow Life Stream!" I shouted, having my head adjust itself and shine a green rainbow that would shower the two fighters in healing rain. Their health started reconstituting, but I noticed that it was at a faster rate than when I last healed Haruyuki. Their Health meters were regenerating at a relatively decent speed.

Just as their Health returned to full, the timer ran out and the result was a draw. At least I made it in time. Looking around as the world returned to normal, I saw Kuroyukihime's head rise from behind Muttsulini, and soon enough, she and Haruyuki were sitting in our booth as well.

"Kinoshita-kun, I think you have an admirer. She's coming this way," Kuroyukihime immediately stated.

"Who?" I was shocked. If that person was who I thought that was…

"Hideyoshi! So this is where you've been sneaking off to!" Just as I thought… Yuuko.

"Ane-ue! What are you doing here?"

"What are _you_ doing here? If this becomes a habit, you will end up in that crappy class F this coming year!"

"This doesn't concern you-"

"Pathetic! You can't skip schools just because you feel like tea! No wonder I'm worlds ahead of you in grades-"

"…and friendless! I am not prepared to see one of my closest friends suffer!"

"What do you mean 'closest'? You haven't seen that blob of lard for months!"

"That was uncalled for, Ane-ue!"

"I see we have another animal mistakenly sent here from the zoo." I suddenly hear Kuroyukihime say. Looking at her, I think I saw a vein throbbing in her temple area, which had to mean that my vulgar sister had struck a nerve.

"Funny you should say that…" Yuuko suddenly sounds a little more superior, "…because I was thinking exactly the same thing. He abandons his duty to study to graze at some shitty watering hole under the excuse of watching out for an obese pig."

"It's amazing that you can speak in the first place. For one thing, you seem to be confusing other people for yourself, beast. Secondly, Kinoshita-kun had business with me. Thirdly, pigs can be actually quite cute, unless you are blind of course."

"What did you say to me?! You will suffer for that!"

"Oh, how so?"

"Senpai," I heard Haruyuki whisper, "…do you think she could be Cyan Pile?"

"I don't know, Haruyuki-kun. I doubt it, though."

"I can see why Hideyoshi didn't want me to meet her, though."

"I don't have time to put up with you morons!" I heard Ane-ue's voice again. "I've got studying to do!" With that, she stormed out, leaving me, Haruyuki, Muttsulini and Kuroyukihime.

"Haruyuki. Cable link. Now," There was something I needed to know.

"Not a chance, Kinoshita-kun," I have to hand it to Kuroyukihime; she was very quick on the draw.

"It is related to 'that'."

"Fine," Things got interesting from there. Kuroyukihime pulled out a second cable, plugged it into my neck and hers (with Muttsulini pulling out and connecting his own cable to my other Neuro-Linker socket), and started explaining about Cyan Pile, a Burst Linker that was stalking her. She ended up asking both me and Muttsulini for help, and while I was willing to help a friend of a close friend, my partner was another story. Some days, I am never able to figure out the silent ninja pervert that is Tsuchiya Kouta.

Returning home, I didn't even speak to Ane-ue. To insult Haruyuki like that, even after what he has been through, was completely uncalled for. I just wanted the day to end, so I walked into the bathroom and started brushing my teeth. Seeing myself reflected in that mirror… why do I always have to look like a girl. Brain Burst was the only thing to truly acknowledge my sex, so why couldn't everyone else get the hint. That dream I had the night I got the program. I wanted to be seen as what I chose to be. That dream still disturbs me, although I guess it isn't surprising considering it was last night. But still, why do I have to be reflected as a girl in everyone's eyes?

Reflected? Something had just started occurring to me. Looking at this mirror, I was seeing a reflection of myself. In the dream, I shouted that I wanted my reflection to be of my own choosing, and I ended up with the Duel Avatar Rainbow Mirror. Mirrors reflect what is truly there. Reflected? Mirror? Maybe that was one thing special about my Duel Avatar.

"Burst Link!" There was something I needed to do. Something I needed to test. Clicking on the Matching List, I decided to look for someone to Duel. The Avatar Cyan Pile wasn't on the Matching List, but I just needed to look for someone to challenge. The names featured included Ash Roller, Sand Duct, Purple Thorn, Saxe Lauder and a few others, but a few that intrigued me were names beginning with the letters 'FFF'. There was FFF Sigma, FFF Gamma, FFF Epsilon and FFF Mu. Eventually I settled on challenging a Burst Linker by the name of FFF Tau, clicking my name, his name and the Duel icon.

* * *

**End note:** For Muttsulini's Duel Avatar, a ninja seemed to fit best as I couldn't really see him as any other form. With his moves, it made sense to just keep them in their Japanese form as... I don't really know, it just fitted and sounded more appealing than saying "Sword Technique" (Kenjutsu) or "Throwing Star Technique" (Shurikenjutsu)


End file.
